Despite loss, women still honored

By Dena Beth Krischer

Daily Sports Writer

INDIANAPOLIS - Being looked at as the darkhorse of the Big Ten practically all season, the Michigan women's basketball team weaseled its way past preseason favorites Purdue and Illinois to grab second place in the conference.

Last Thursday, the Wolverines snuck up on their conference again and received something else slightly unexpected, as the Big Ten announced Michigan coach Sue Guevara to be co-Coach of the Year along with No. 5 Penn State's Rene Portland.

"I have to give the media more credit than I usually do," Guevara smiled. "I don't expect anything like that. The only thing that I hope is for my players, for Stacey Thomas, (LeeAnn) Bies, Anne Thorius and then the kids who got an honorable mention. I'm happy. I have good assistants and I have players that happen to respond."

Guevara led the Wolverines to program-best records of 13-3 in the Big Ten and 21-6 overall.

For the first time in Big Ten history, a Defensive Player of the Year was named, and that honor goes to none other than Michigan's Stacey Thomas.

"I think it's a great accomplishment," Thomas said. "I'm honored to be able to win the award. I take pride in my defense and I try to put a lot of hard work and a lot of effort into it. It's something I love to do, and to be able to win an award for it makes it better."

Thomas was also named to the all-Big Ten First Team by both the coaches and the media, becoming only the second player in Michigan history to receive the first-team all-conference honor, the first since Pollyanna Johns did in 1998.

Through the regular season, Thomas led the Wolverines in points (15.0), rebounds (7.9) and steals (3.5) and also led the conference in steals with 95.

Despite the hype surrounding Bies for much of the season, she was not honored as the Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Instead, Latoya Turner of ninth-place Ohio State received the award.

A disappointment?

"That would be an understatement," Guevara said. "But Turner is also a very, very good freshman basketball player. Bies made the all-freshman team, so the good thing is, she's only going to be better as a sophomore."

Turner averaged 11.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks for the Buckeyes. Bies averaged 10.3 points, 6.1 rebounds and led the Big Ten in free-throw percentage, shooting 83.3 percent from the line.

For the second straight year, Danish sensation Anne Thorius was selected by the Big Ten coaches to the All-Big Ten Second Team and received honorable mention, courtesy of the media. In her 26 regular-season games, Thorius has averaged 9.2 points, 4.0 assists and 3.8 rebounds.

A bonus: With her eight assists on the weekend, Thorius has moved into second place on Michigan's all-time assists chart with 386. She needs 17 more to beat Lori Gnatkowski's 402 handoffs (1980-84).

Sophomores Alayne Ingram and Raina Goodlow both received All-Big Ten Honorable Mentions. Ingram received mention from both the coaches and the media, while Goodlow was only noted by the media.

Ingram is second for the Wolverines in scoring, averaging 12.7 points per game. Through 27 games, Ingram handed off 67 assists and grabbed 28 steals - both four better than her freshman year. The point guard matched her career-high five steals against Northwestern on Friday - something she hasn't done since playing at the Rice Invitational in December.

After spraining her knee during the first exhibition game against Athletes in Action, Goodlow has since then played in all 27 regular-season games, started in 20 of those and then both games in the Big Ten tourney. Through the regular season, the forward has averaged 9.9 points and 4.7 rebounds - both exceeding her freshman year's averages of 6.7 and 2.8, respectively.

AP Photo

Despite being benched for her poor play in Michigan's semifinal loss to Purdue, senior forward Stacey Thomas was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.